Majora's Curse
by TornadoWeirdo
Summary: A retelling of the events in Majora's Mask, Link is subjected to the power of a masked deity while searching for a lost friend in the land of Termina. He discovers that Termina is not a friendly place, and has to contend with moral dangers as well as those that threaten his life. Written in the form of children's literature, only a little more ambiguous and violent.
1. Chapter 1

**The Land Beyond**

* * *

One morning in the forest of Hyrule, a young boy name Link discovered that his fairy friend, Navi, had gone missing. He set out on his horse Epona to go and find her.

He rode Epona deeper and deeper into the woods. Half the day passed by before he reached a dark, shadowy edge of forest that he had never seen before.

Epona wanted to turn back, as she feared the ill look of the trees. Link spied a wooden sign pointing into a huge hollow log that read: TERMINA.

Link urged his horse on, telling her they had looked everywhere else for Navi already. He petted her mane and told her not to worry. At the same time he held onto the sword at his side, in case of danger. Epona obeyed him, and walked past the sign into the tunnel of the log.

On the other side of the tunnel, they searched around in the dark woods until night fell. By that time, they both were tired, and needed a place to rest. They found a pond that reflected the Moon up above, and slept there soundly underneath a tree.

A black owl wearing a frightening colored mask had been watching the boy and his horse from the treetops. "They are not welcome in my world," she hooted. Despite her appearance, she was no mere animal. She swooped down and flapped her wings over them, exposing them to a dark force.

The next morning, Link awoke, only to find that his horse was nowhere to be seen. Standing up, he called Epona's name, but his call went unanswered. He walked over to the edge of the nearby pond to get a better view of his surroundings. When he looked down at his reflection in the water, he held his head in fright. He had been turned into a Deku Scrub!

Link cried out in terror. He was small, feeble, and longer had his sword or the shield he had carried with him on his back. If a beast from these woods attacked him, he thought, he wouldn't be able to defend himself!

He had to do something, so he ran across the woods as fast as his stubby legs would go. He didn't have a map, and he began to worry that he would be lost in this weird forest forever. He needed to find someone – anyone – who could give him some answers and some peace of mind.

A small cliff dipped along Link's path, and Link tried to grab a hanging vine so he could climb down safely. But the vine was slippery, and he could not grip it firmly enough. He fell down on top of a mushroom, and as he sat up, an angry yellow fairy appeared.

"What do you think you're doing?!" the fairy demanded of Link, batting her wings. "I was taking a nap under this mushroom, but then you smushed it, and me too!"

Link stood and apologized to her over and over. Eventually she calmed down and explained that she had exhausted herself trying to find someone who was dear to her.

"My brother…" she said, "whose name is Tael, got lost many days ago. I've been searching for him all over this Deku Forest. He really is hard to keep track of."

Link asked the fairy her name. "Oh, right!" she said, with pride in her voice. "I'm Tatl!"

Though she didn't seem the least bit interested in him, Link told her his name and where he came from, and whom he himself was looking for. Tatl was baffled by his words.

"Link? Epona? Navi? What is 'Hyrule'?" Tatl asked in an annoyed tone. "You're a Deku Scrub, aren't you? You must have gotten separated from the Deku Scrub tribe at the other end of the forest. No wonder you look so sad…" She gazed into his gloomy eyes.

"C'mon, I can take you to the tribe," she continued as Link watched her flutter above, "but only on the condition that you help me find my brother, Tael. How about it? Sound like a deal?"

Link couldn't say no to her terms. He was willing to help anyone if it meant finding his way around this bizarre place. He followed Tatl along a twisted path to the Deku Scrub tribe of which she spoke. And that's how his adventure in the land of Termina began.


	2. Chapter 2

**The False Goddess**

* * *

Link and Tatl journeyed deeper into the forest until they came to a small village where the Deku Scrub tribe lived. The Deku people had homes in trees and underneath the ground. They had low walls made both of stone and crooked sticks. Three Scrubs on guard approached Link at the village entrance with caution in their eyes.

"Where do you come from?" asked the first.

"And what is that funny green clothing you're wearing?" asked the second.

Link told them he was actually a human who had come from a land called Hyrule, but his honesty was met with their immediate disapproval.

"You are clearly mad," said the third. "Our king will decide what to do with you." And so they forced him to step in line with them into the village and to the king's chamber.

Inside the chamber, the Deku king was bent on one knee in front of the stone wall painting of a bird. On the left stood his daughter, the Deku princess, and on the right his caretaker, the Deku butler. When Link, Tatl and the three Scrubs entered, the king did not acknowledge their presence.

"Your Majesty?" one of the Scrubs began.

The Deku princess turned to him and said, "He is praying, you fool. Do not disturb him."

"Princess, we have brought with us a deluded Scrub accompanied by a fairy," said another of the three. "Not only does he claim he is not from the Deku Forest, but he also wears a ridiculous hat."

"Step forward," the young princess ordered Link, and he obeyed with a courteous bow.

"If you worship the almighty Jarpy, then we will consider you one of us," said the Deku princess. "Do you know of whom I speak?" Link answered no.

The Deku princess explained, "She is a goddess who takes the form of a bird. She protects our village, and we offer her Deku nuts as tribute. Lately, the Deku trees have grown sick and have stopped bearing nuts, yet she is demanding more. Because we cannot give her what she wants, she has left us at the mercy of the beasts, and we are now begging her to return."

Hearing the Deku tribe's plight, Link offered to go out and find the bird. But the Deku king, overhearing the conversation, stopped his prayer and turned around. "Absolutely not!" he roared, slamming down his scepter. "No matter how much you look like us, you are clearly not one of my people if you do not worship the Jarpy. We are not to help you, and you are not to help us. Begone!"

At the king's order, the Deku people forced Link out of the village.

Outside the village walls, Link sat on a rock underneath a fern, holding his head in confusion. Tatl said to him with utmost impatience, "I brought you to the tribe, so are you going to help me find my brother now?" He did not respond, for he was too bothered by the way he was being treated.

Then, he was suddenly greeted by the Deku king's butler, who had come out to console him. "I am terribly sorry, young one, for the rudeness of our tribe," the butler said with a deep bow. "I would blame our situation, but in truth we have no excuse."

Link told him what had happened to himself during his time in the Deku Forest. The Deku butler listened closely, and when Link had finished, he said, "I believe your story. You have too much a burden to be concerned about our tribe. But I can tell you that I myself have seen the Deku goddess as of late. Whenever I try to tell our king he does not listen, because he did not see it himself."

The Deku butler led Link to a nearby grove and pointed to a river. "The Jarpy has become a touch ill from the air of the trees, and loses a feather with each flap of her wings. If you follow a trail of blue feathers down that riverbank, you may very well spot her. Personally, I think she is a fraud, but to tell the tribe this would be blasphemous. Do be careful."

Link took the keen butler's advice and hurried to the river. Along its bank he found and picked up feather after feather, making a bundle in his small hand. "Why are you going after some bird instead of my brother?" Tatl complained, but he did not respond.

After entering a hole that opened into the trunk of a Deku tree, Link climbed the tree from the inside and walked out a hole on the other side. Soon he stumbled upon a large nest filled with piles of Deku nuts and more blue feathers. Without delay, the Jarpy appeared above him, flapping her blue wings.

"How dare you!" she boomed. She wore braces of gold on her feet, and her beak had the shape of a spear. "A puny Deku Scrub like you is forbidden in my home."

On behalf of the Deku butler, Link asked her if she was really a goddess, and she grew furious. "Of course I am!" she screeched. "Because you doubt me, I will show you my power!"

She dove at Link rapidly, her beak shining as bright as a sword. He jumped out of the way, but tripped onto a pile of Deku nuts. Staring down at the pile, he thought perhaps that he could shoot a nut from his mouth, as Deku Scrubs were able to do. So in he stuck one, and he spat it out at the Jarpy. When it struck her, it blinded her in a flash of light.

Stunned for a time, the bird nonetheless persisted the fight. But with the hoard of nuts, Link could fight back by spitting at her relentlessly. Soon the Jarpy became so dizzy from each strike of nut that she flew into a nearby tree and bumped her head, and then fell to the bottom of the nest.

"All right, all right!" she squawked, giving up at last. "I am a liar! I told you Scrubs I was a goddess so you would give me a boundless supply of Deku nuts to eat, so I would never hunger again. Have mercy on me!"

Link promised not to attack her anymore, in exchange that she confess herself to the Deku Scrub tribe.

* * *

When Link returned to the tribe's village, the Deku people were quick to line up against him, and prepared to push him out. He held up the Jarpy feathers he had found, and they stopped their advance and bowed to them.

The Deku king and the Deku princess emerged from their chamber to observe the scene. When they saw what Link was holding, the king shouted, "Have you the arrogance to pluck the great Jarpy's feathers, outsider?!"

Then behind Link stepped up the Jarpy herself, causing all the Deku Scrubs to scramble over one another with excitement, begging her to stay in the village and protect them forever. In the middle of the chaos, the bird raised her wings and silenced them. "Do not ask me to be your guardian goddess," she spoke. "For I am not what I have told you."

When she revealed to them that she was not a goddess after all, the Scrubs' joy fell and their anger rose.

"You lied to us to take all the Deku nuts we worked so hard to gather?!" the Deku king bellowed. "I should have known!"

As the Deku people prepared nets to throw on the Jarpy and drag her away to be punished, the Deku butler reappeared to Link. "I am grateful that you found her and helped reveal the truth," he said. "I suppose I couldn't tell the tribe what I believed because I was too cowardly." He handed Link an old map and gave him instructions. "Go east to a city called Clock Town. You'll have better luck there finding the answers to your misfortune."

Link thanked the Deku butler and waved goodbye as he left the Deku village. He studied the map and walked along a path leading out of the sickened forest. Lastly, Tatl followed him, saying, "Link, you aren't a very reliable partner. But maybe – since my brother is an adventurer to a fault – there's a chance he could be in Clock Town."


	3. Chapter 3

**The Town Run by Time and Money**

* * *

After emerging from the Deku Forest and crossing a vast field, Link entered the west gate of Clock Town with Tatl. He walked down its streets, observing the busy townspeople who were much taller than himself. He walked past buildings creeping with vines, as well as a tall clock tower.

Around a corner, a big man pushing a wheelbarrow abruptly bumped into him, knocking him into a puddle.

The man huffed as he rushed past, saying, "Time is money in Clock Town. The next time you're in my way, I'll run you over!" Link was startled by his words.

As he searched for someone who could help him break his curse, Link began to grow incredibly thirsty, as much of a plant as he was. He arrived at a fountain of pure water and had to stand on his tiptoes to get a drink. When he was finished, he heard a man playing music in the fountain's garden. The man was playing on a music box and was wearing nothing but undergarments and a barrel.

"They took everything I had… everything I owned…" the music man sang. "The town judge said I had far too much debt anyway. But those thieves won't take my music box, oh no!"

Link wandered up to him and asked him who he was.

"Who am I?" he answered. "I'm a nobody, after a gang of thieves robbed me and kicked me to the streets. But those sad eyes… you look like you've lost more than me, m'boy! Do you have any money?" Link looked himself over but came up with nothing.

"Here then, take the last of my Rupees," said the music man, tossing Link a bag. "I don't need them as long as I have my music box."

Link thanked him and continued on his way. He tried talking to many people around Clock Town – shoppers, shopkeepers, jesters, tradesmen – but they were too busy complaining about their own problems to listen to his own.

Eventually night fell, and with all the shops closing and townspeople going home, Link realized that he was now very tired. "Let's go to the inn we just passed," Tatl told him. "We can spend the night there."

When Link came to and entered the doors of the Clock Town inn, he had to jump up and grab the edge of the front desk so he could ring the bell. An old clerk soon appeared behind the desk. "What is it?" she asked gruffly.

Link asked her if he could spend the night at the inn. He presented her with the bag of Rupees he had received from the music man.

After peering into the bag, the clerk said, "These aren't nearly enough Rupees to meet our one-night rate. Go somewhere else."

All of a sudden, the keeper of the inn hurried over to the desk. She was dainty and pretty, and had a deeply concerned look in her eyes.

"A strange wooden boy wants to stay here," the clerk told her. "Shall I bring out the pitchfork?"

"Please, let me take care of this," the innkeeper told the clerk, who muttered to herself and left.

The innkeeper looked down into Link's sad eyes and smiled softly. "We can make due with any amount of Rupees you have," she claimed.

After writing his name in a book, the innkeeper picked up a candle and beckoned him. "I've reserved a room for you, Link," she said. "Please follow me."

The kind innkeeper led him up a flight of stairs to his room. Like a mother, she even gave him a glass of water and tucked him into his bed.

Once the innkeeper had closed the door, Tatl said, "She seems much nicer than most people around town, though she seems almost _too_ nice. Is there such a thing?" Link pondered over her words a while before he fell asleep.

A few hours after the break of dawn, Link awoke to the loud gossip of a group of women. He went downstairs and saw them sitting around a fireplace drinking tea.

"Did you hear about the innkeeper's son?" one woman asked the others. "One of the guests overheard her talking to him on the other side of the boy's door late last night. From what it had sounded, he is not actually her son, but her lover!"

"Atrocious!" exclaimed the woman across from her.

"Yes! Ever since dawn the news has been spreading like wildfire," another woman said. "She ought to be ashamed of herself!"

When the innkeeper appeared again, Link saw her running down the hall with a young boy, hand-in-hand, toward the back door. She covered her eyes, which were filling up with tears. The women scorned her as she and the boy ran out the door, trying to escape the commotion she and he were causing at the inn. Link felt like a thorn had pricked his heart.

* * *

No matter his remorse for the innkeeper, Link returned to the streets of the town to once again seek help for his curse. Before long he came to the stand of an outdoor shop at the Clock Town plaza, where the salesman waiting behind the stand wore a dazzling grin.

"Hello there, little fellow!" he greeted. "Have a look around my shop. Do you see anything for your troubles?"

Link studied all the strange items the salesman had on display. Tatl then noticed a glass jar sitting in the back on a high shelf. The jar contained a purple fairy.

"That's Tael!" she cried at the sight of him. "That's my brother in there!"

The purple fairy turned around at the sound of his sister's voice. "Tatl?" he cried back. "Is that really you?"

"I caught him during my travels in the Deku Forest," the salesman told Link. "Do you want him?" Seeing Tatl's joy, Link nodded eagerly.

"Then that will cost you five hundred Rupees," the salesman said.

Tatl was enraged with him. "You can't sell my brother!" she exclaimed. "You can't tag a price on a fairy!"

"I'll go no lower than that," said the salesman, crossing his arms. His words were final.

Link knew he didn't have any money left after spending all his Rupees at the inn. So he turned his back to the salesman and whispered a plan to Tatl.

Filling his cheeks with fountain water, Link blew to the air above the plaza a bunch of bubbles from his strange mouth. Tatl moved them around so that when the sunlight touched them, they shimmered and sparkled and spread rainbows everywhere. Many of the townsfolk gathered around the center of the plaza to see the show, including the salesman himself.

Link sneaked behind his stand and climbed up the cluttered shelves to reach the jar holding Tatl's brother. But he toppled some items over, and the salesman, turning around at the noise of their clattering to the ground, spotted him. "What's this?!" he yelled. "You're trying to steal my fairy!"

The townspeople stopped watching Tatl's show of bubbles and peered over at the salesman. When he told them that he was being robbed, they became as angry as he.

The salesman then took off one of his shoes and hurled it at Link, who ducked beneath it and fled the shop. "Leave at once, you pesky Deku boy!" the salesman roared. "We already have enough thieves to deal with in this town!"

Link held onto his hat and ran as some of the townspeople followed, throwing whatever they could find at him. They did not stop until they had chased him and Tatl outside the gates of Clock Town.

After the townsfolk had lost sight of him in the fields, Link leaned against a tree atop a hill and caught his breath.

"We have to go back, Link!" Tatl urged him, rapping on his head. "Tael is still at that shop, and he could be sold off any minute!"

Link reminded her that he would only be chased out of town again. Tatl settled down, but then she became very sad. "I'm his big sister…" she began. "I hated seeing him alone, trapped and afraid."

Link made a sincere promise to her that he'd rescue her little brother. But he needed to undo the curse on his body, even though he still did not know how.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Frozen Mountain**

* * *

As Link and Tatl journeyed along a road that weaved through an open countryside, a lanky man wearing a green outfit and a bell on each of his feet suddenly skipped up to them. "What brings you out of the Deku Forest, little boy?" the man asked Link with a beaming smile on his face.

Link explained his situation to him from start to finish. "Oh my!" exclaimed the man, covering his mouth. "Luckily for you, I'm a Great Fairy in the making. That is to say, I am a Great Fairy in spirit, but am trapped in a human's body." He bent down and held out his hand, pulling his other hand behind his back. "My name is Tangle. Once I become a Great Fairy, I can turn you back to your original form. But I require an assistant to help make the potion for the spell. Will _you_ be my assistant?"

Tatl scoffed, and Link scratched his head. He had never heard of a fairy being trapped in a man's body before. But he trusted the fellow, and shook his hand.

Tangle took Link to his home, a cottage inside a grassy hill. He welcomed him inside, where he had a cauldron, magic charms, potion bottles, and lots of old books.

"Now," Tangle began, "I will need some magical pixie root to finish my fairy potion. It is found only at the fairy spring inside Snowhead Mountain, just to the north of here. I could try to climb the mountain myself, but my back is so very sore and my knees are wobbly and weak."

Immediately Link offered to find the pixie root for him. "Could you?" Tangle asked, smirking to himself. "You are quite brave, lad. You will need a map to reach the mountain, however."

When Link told him he already had one, he replied, "Good, then that will spare me the effort. Off, young one! Bring me some pixie root! Hurry now! Hurry!"

Following his map, Link traveled north into the rocky hills dividing the fields from the mountains. He climbed higher and higher up the hills until he reached the bottom of the whitest, tallest mountain in Termina: Snowhead.

"That mountain is gigantic!" Tatl shouted in awe, and Link stared up as she did at it. He failed to see the lack of plants and trees in the area, and began taking a steep hike up the mountain slope.

Soon he found a small icy hole in the side of the mountain. With his small body he squeezed through it, and it led him through a tunnel and into a cave. Once he had entered the large, wintery cave inside the mountain, he crunched through the snow on the rocky floor and crossed chasms using bridges made of ice. As he went further inside, a dark chill rushed through him. And after a while he became unbearably cold – so cold that shivering only made him colder.

Eventually Link felt himself freeze stiff, and he collapsed in the snow. "Link!" Tatl shouted, flying down to him. "Wake up! _Link!_ "

* * *

When he awoke near a crackling fire, Link hazily remembered being picked up and carried by a large, bulky creature. He sat up and realized that he was now in a small room surrounded by a group of Gorons.

"Thank goodness!" exclaimed one of the Gorons at Link's awakening. "We were quite worried for you." Confused, Link asked the Gorons how they had found him.

"Your fairy friend guided us," another Goron explained. "She found our city and brought us to your aid. Any longer out there in the wilderness, and you would have been frozen forever!"

Seeing that Tatl was nowhere in sight, Link then asked the Gorons to what city he had been taken. "You are in the Goron City of Snowhead," replied a Goron. "We have lived up here in this mountain for centuries. Every now and then, we will leave the mountain to trade goods with the people of Clock Town. But lately, we have been trapped by ice that not even the strongest Goron can smash through, and that no fire can thaw."

Link reached out to test the warmth of the fire that crackled in front of him. Surely any fire could melt ice, he thought. A spark then flew from the fire and caught his finger.

The Goron next to him gave him a bandage for his burn. "You plants don't bode well in either extreme heat or cold," the Goron told him. "Please be careful."

The Gorons continued to tell Link of their plight. They had discovered that the ice surrounding their cavernous city was growing thicker without bound. In a matter of weeks, they said, if they could not find an exit big enough through which to fit their hulking bodies, they would be crushed.

"Furthermore," added a Goron, "the statues held in honor of our ancestors have come to life at the ancestral temple at the base of the mountain. They are ruthless, and no matter how many times we try to enter the ancient place for solace, we cannot pass them to do so. We do not want to destroy them to get by, as they are sacred to our proud race."

"We Gorons do not have much, so we are always trying to conquer other creatures in strength," explained another Goron. "But we are so caught up in our foolishness that we have brought other races to extinction. It is quite horrible."

Taking their words to heart, Link thanked the group of Gorons for their rescue and prepared to leave. They stopped him and gave him a flaming torch, as they worried he would freeze again. They also told him exactly where to find the fairy spring he had sought. It was the only place in their city where plants could grow.

As Link walked down the streets of Goron City that sloped into the abyss of the hollow mountain, he crossed paths with many Gorons who all gave him nasty glares. "You are such a weak thing, and we are much stronger," one of them said, sizing him up. "We don't want you here. We don't even see how you could survive here."

When Link finally found the entrance to the fairy spring's cave, he walked inside, letting his torch light the way. Upon entering the bright spring, he found Tatl hovering over a shallow pool within a circle of plants. She was speaking with a floating Great Fairy, a beautiful being with long flowing hair and a dress made out of vines. They both turned to Link as he stepped foot in the pool beneath them.

"So it's true!" the Great Fairy spoke unto him. "You have come to Snowhead looking for pixie root!"

Tatl flew down to Link and told him, "She is willing to let you take some root. They're a deep blue color, and their pointy stubs stick up from the ground." Hearing this, he immediately splashed to the edge of the pool and picked a few of the ones that he saw.

"Funny child," the Great Fairy remarked with a chuckle. "What do you hope to gain by doing this?" Link told her he wanted to help turn a man into a Great Fairy, so that he could turn him back into his original form.

"My child, do you not see a Great Fairy before you now?" said the fairy with a laugh. After hearing her, Link stopped picking the pixie root, and felt a bit silly.

"I can turn you back to your old self right away, if that is what you desire," said the fairy. Link begged her to do so, and she took his humble request upon herself.

The Great Fairy cradled Link in twinkling magic light, and Link transformed within it. When the light vanished, however, Link looked down at himself in shock. He had not become a human as he had thought he would, but a large, bulky Goron!

"Oh no," the Great Fairy spoke, placing her fingers to her lips in fear. "Whatever curse has been placed upon you is twisting my magic beyond my control. I am very sorry, but I can do nothing more."

Saddened, Link nonetheless thanked the Great Fairy for her effort and left the fairy spring with Tatl.

As Tatl followed Link, she noticed that they were venturing deeper into Snowhead Mountain instead of leaving it. "You're dilly-dallying again?" she complained to Link. "Since I helped save you, couldn't we do what I want to for once and return to Tangle's cottage?" She had forgotten that as a Goron, Link would have trouble escaping the mountain with all the ice trapping him in. He wanted to find a way to thaw Snowhead, and somehow he knew that the source of the problem could be found at the Gorons' ancestral temple.

Once he had reached the base of the mountain, Link spied the ancient temple where the cold stone statues of the Gorons' ancestors lie in wait. They attacked him as soon as he tried to enter their halls, and he had to rely on his new Goron strength to wrestle them down. It was a tough struggle, but he overcame the power of every last statue with the power of his own. Leaving the statues lifeless and cracked on the ground, he entered the temple at last.

The temple led to a snowy inner chamber with a wide sloping tunnel. When Link began searching this chamber, his heavy steps echoed throughout the open space. Then, the giant statue of a goat with a man's face snorted to life behind him. Link turned around in surprise, and listened as the statue began to speak.

 _"I thought surely that under Majora's curse, the souls of the Gorons of the past would guard me from the Gorons of the future,"_ he said upon sight of Link in his Goron form.

Tatl asked him what he was. Link too wondered about the one the statue had just mentioned – the one he called Majora.

The statue replied to Tatl, _"I am the last of the Tyrons, all of whom the Gorons obliterated from this mountain. Now that my spirit has returned to Snowhead, I will take revenge on those savage Gorons by crushing them under the very mountain they claimed from my kind."_

The statue roared, trembling the icicles that hung from the chamber's ceiling. Link then heard a rumbling sound, and the ground beneath him began to quake. A giant avalanche appeared from behind, sweeping forward rapidly. He watched the statue leap over him and gallop down the chamber's slope.

"He knows he can outrun you!" yelled Tatl. "He's trying to kill you the easy way! What can we do?!"

Link didn't have time to think. On instinct, he tucked himself into a ball, hiding his soft Goron underbelly and showing his rocky Goron back. He started rolling down the slope after the Tyron statue, faster and faster.

He quickly caught up to the statue and rolled into his legs, tripping him over his own hooves. The statue tumbled down and crashed into a boulder. As Link bounced to safety, the avalanche buried the statue deep in snow.

The breath of life left the statue's stone body and rose from Snowhead Mountain's base to its top. It spread throughout all the thickening ice and began melting it away. When Link had returned to Goron City, he saw some Gorons emerging from their huts to catch the scent of warm air drifting in.

"I can smell the air outside the mountain again!" exclaimed a Goron. "We're no longer trapped! Hooray!"

As the Gorons celebrated by shaking Goron City with their dancing feet, Link left the mountain through the melting hole of an ice wall that revealed the light of the day.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Monster in the Depths**

* * *

Link rolled down from the mountains in the north, back to the cottage of the fairy man, Tangle. When he arrived at the door, Tangle screamed in shock at his new appearance. But then he noticed that the boy had brought him pixie root, and he recognized him and breathed a sigh of relief.

"So the magic of a Great Fairy failed to return you to normal?" Tangle asked after hearing of Link's trials in Snowhead. "That is why you need me to become an even greater fairy than the one you had met! Now, to accomplish this I require another ingredient. I need a deep sea pearl from the Great Bay down south. But I pain to say it," he said, hanging his head in shame. "I cannot swim."

Link gladly offered to go for him. "Will you?" Tangle asked. "Even though you have already climbed a mountain?"

Indeed, Link felt tired, but he told the man he did not want to take a break until he undid his curse.

"Okay!" giggled Tangle. "Go then to the Great Bay and fetch me a deep sea pearl!"

Link rolled to the south countryside of Termina, following his map to the Great Bay that marked the end of the forests and fields. Lumbering up a hill to a seaside cliff, he noticed a group of older children surrounding a scarecrow near a patch of trees.

"We'll take that!" sneered one of them, snatching the flute the scarecrow was holding in his hand. "The sound this instrument makes is so annoying!"

"No, my flute!" the scarecrow cried. "Give it back!"

The bully dangled the flute above the scarecrow's head, and as soon as the scarecrow jumped up to grasp it, he pulled the flute out of his reach. The other children roared with laughter.

"What an awful thing to do!" Tatl exclaimed, watching the scene. "If I were your size, Link, I would beat them up!"

The bully was too busy having his fun to see Link stomping up behind him. Being a Goron, Link easily picked the bully off the ground, making him drop the flute. He carried the yelling, kicking child over to the Great Bay cliff, and tossed him into the water below.

The other children tried to flee, but they too were picked up by Link and tossed into the bay.

Link then approached the scarecrow to see if he was all right. "I'm fine, thanks," the scarecrow replied. He picked up his flute and played a brief melody on it. When he was finished, he said, "I never thought a Goron like you would be here among us forest children!"

"Forest children, you say?" said Tatl. "If you live in the forest, then where do your parents live?"

"I ran away from mine," the scarecrow answered. "My mother's this mean old witch who lives in a swamp outside Clock Town. Like every other adult I've met, all she cares about is money. Money this, money that. She never has time for me. So why should I bother with her?"

"But isn't she your family?" asked Tatl. "How could you abandon your own mother?!"

"I did what I did, and that's that," the scarecrow replied. With a chuckle he continued to play his flute. Link felt his heart turn cold, and he left the scarecrow to his musical merry-making.

* * *

Later, Link came down to the beach of the Great Bay and stared at the tidal waves crashing in. He wondered how he could keep himself from sinking to the bottom of the water, heavy as stone as he was.

Tatl called him from afar. "I see a fisherman," she claimed. "Let's ask him if he knows where to find what we're looking for." She pointed him toward a tall dock with a small house sitting atop it. A fisherman sat over the edge of the dock, casting a line from his fishing rod.

Link climbed up the dock ladder, and when greeted and asked a question, the hardy fisherman did not show him any fear for being a Goron.

"Deep sea pearl?" the fisherman spoke gruffly. "I don't know about anything going on in the deep sea. Ask the Zoras."

Once Link asked the fisherman where he could find the Zoras, the fisherman's mustache twitched and he began to rant. "They're skulking away beneath the beach here, just waiting to swipe my catch from under my nose. Those stingy Zoras think that all the fish in the bay belongs to them. I haven't gotten a nibble in days!"

Link wondered if there were another reason the fisherman was unable to catch any fish. As he climbed down from the dock, Tatl mentioned, "If you're going to go swimming to find a pearl, it's almost as if you need to become a Zora." Hearing her, Link agreed. He asked her where the nearest Great Fairy was, so that he could be transformed into a Zora like he had been a Goron in Snowhead Mountain.

"I guess you might have known that lesser fairies like myself are naturally drawn to greater fairies," Tatl said. "Follow me. The Zoras must have a Great Fairy watching over them somewhere."

Tatl led Link around the Great Bay shore until she stopped at a rocky tunnel dipping deep into the water.

"I sense a Great Fairy down here," Tatl said. "But the path to her is submerged. If I go down there, I'll get my wings wet and won't be able to fly for some time."

Link let her stay behind and held his nose as he dove into the water. He trudged slowly along the floor of the tunnel, at last resurfacing in a small watery chamber decorated with gorgeous seashells of many colors. The Great Fairy he sought was floating in front of a mirror, putting on makeup to beautify herself.

"What brings you here, Goron?" she demanded upon viewing Link from her mirror. "You are quite far from home, you know."

He explained himself to her, and she was immediately baffled by his request. "You want me to turn you into a Zora instead of your original self?" she asked. "Very well. I will do what suits your fancy, as long as you leave me be once we are done."

The Great Fairy turned around and cloaked Link with magic, and he watched as his arms became blue and sprouted fins. When the magical light faded, he looked himself over. Much to his pleasant surprise, the spell worked. He was now a Zora!

"Now leave," commanded the Great Fairy. "I wish to be alone with my beauty."

Link dove back into the water and did not thank her. Right away he noticed how fast he could now move while submerged. He swam on through murky water, looking around for but seeing no fish. He eventually happened upon the Zoras' domain inside an underwater cliff, and when he resurfaced in a cavern that marked the entrance, two Zoras standing guard at the door prepared their spears.

"Halt!" shouted one of them. "Who are you?" Link told them he was a searcher for a deep sea pearl, and had come to their domain for help on where to find one.

"We have one," the other guard replied. "It is our most treasured possession, and we show it off only during special occasions. But we will never give it to you. Now hurry in, young Zora, before the Great Fish catches your scent and hunts you down."

Wondering about this Great Fish of which the guard spoke, Link entered their door and was welcomed by other Zoras into their aquatic home. They told him that they were preparing for one of many music shows for the next day, and that he should stay a while and relax. He saw many Zoras lying around in pools, doing absolutely nothing, more sleeping in their chambers, and the rest either having fun splashing in the water or helping set up for the next show.

Link walked past more and more Zoras until he met a Zora priest and priestess. They could tell he was a stranger to their domain and brought him to the Zoras' cistern, where some fish were swimming in a small pool.

"We are living lives of fun and relaxation, for our doom is short at hand," explained the Zora priestess. "Before long, this supply of fish will dwindle to nothing, and we will starve to death."

"This is the doing of the monstrous Great Fish," said the priest. "We have encountered it in many losing battles, and it is the most ravenous creature I have ever seen, eating everything smaller than itself!"

The priestess added, "There is only one being we believe could create such a monster, and that being is Majora."

Quickly, Link asked them who Majora was, to which the priest replied, "She is our goddess. Long ago Majora created our world, which was named Termina. Her presence stretches across the land like an eternal shadow. But why she would cast this evil creature upon us and destroy the Great Bay's ecosystem, we dread to know."

After he learned of Majora and the despair of the Zoras, Link decided to himself that he would hunt the Great Fish. When night had come and the Zoras had all fallen asleep, he sneaked past the resting guards at the domain's entrance and swam into the depths of the Great Bay.

With the eyes of a Zora, Link could see well enough in the dark waters of the night to make his search. Once he had finally spotted the figure of a giant demonic fish, Link knew right away that it was the one he was after. He got the fish's attention and swam into a reef, and the fish followed him.

As soon as the Great Fish entered the reef, Link whipped back and struck it on the head with a rock. It shook itself out of a daze, then angrily thrashed its tail and charged. Link dove beneath it, but his mind raced on how he could defeat it without a proper weapon.

The Great Fish suddenly spat out the bones from some of the smaller fish it had eaten. Without any time to dodge them, Link held up his arms and deflected the bones using the fins on his arms instead.

If his fins could be used as shields, he thought, then perhaps they could also be used as swords. He launched himself at the Great Fish, slashing and cutting at its hide. The Great Fish became so angry that it broke free from his attacks and scooped him up into its mouth lined with many sharp teeth. It tried to snap its jaws shut to seal his fate, but he stuck his fins into the roof of the creature's mouth and swung its body over him, slamming it into the wall of the reef. The fatal blow knocked out the curse that was in the fish, and it shrank back to its original size… that of a pitiful guppy. The Now-Little Fish squeaked and darted away, soon to become a predator's next meal.

When Link returned to the domain of the Zoras the next morning, the Zoras were surprised to hear of his triumph over the Great Fish. But they were not moved. They did not believe that he could have defeated the Great Fish by himself, since he was only a child.

Even amid their doubt, Link stayed in their domain for a while longer to rest. As the Zoras prepared the last things needed for their music show, Link caught out of the corner of his eye the luster of a large pearl that they had brought out and placed on a pedestal. Thinking he had earned that pearl, he stole it when no one was looking and vanished from sight.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Thief**

* * *

Link returned to the Great Bay's beach, and Tatl immediately flew to him after having waited for more than an entire night. "Did you find a pearl?" she asked.

He nodded slowly, and held up the glistening pearl for her to see. "It's so shiny!" she observed. "I'm sure Tangle will be very pleased! Let's take it to him so we can break your curse and finally go rescue my brother!"

Tatl and Link traveled back up north through the fields and arrived at Tangle's cottage once more. Tangle was now startled by Link's Zora form.

"Oh my!" he said with a jump. "Is that you, boy? You keep changing! Well, if you are indeed the boy I'm waiting for, then perhaps you have a deep sea pearl for me?" When Link gave him the pearl, he studied it carefully. "Yes, this will do nicely," he claimed.

Link asked Tangle if he now had everything he needed to transform himself into a fairy. "Not quite," Tangle replied, making Link remember his tiredness. "I require one last item. A bottle of magic spice is the last thing I need. I can only buy one at an old witch's shop in a swamp just to the east of Clock Town. But she despises my heart and soul… and for no reason that I can recall! You would most definitely have better luck with her than I."

Link hurried outside Tangle's cottage, determined to finish his quest. While he ran Tatl chased after him, saying, "Link, wait! You have to _pay_ for this magic spice, and you don't have any Rupees!"

Knowing she was right, Link stopped short. Stumped, he decided to check his map. He then noticed something he hadn't before – a location northeast on the map had been completely erased. He asked Tatl if she knew what was supposed to be there.

"I don't know," Tatl answered in an impatient tone. "But we'd better find you a place to earn money, and fast!"

They headed east, where every now and then, Link would spot some country folk and ask them if they could put him to work for some Rupees. But none of them would take up his offer, as they thought it not only odd that a Zora was walking around on dry land, but suspicious.

When he had nearly given up, Link spotted a ranch and decided to enter its gates. It looked like nobody was there, until he spotted a horse standing within a pen next to a barn.

It was Epona, his horse that had gone missing!

As he ran up to her, she clopped backward in fright, seeing him a stranger. But Link beckoned her over, and when she came up to him he caressed her head, and she recognized him and snorted in happiness.

A little ranch girl carrying a bucket filled with milk set it down and walked up to Link. "She seems to like you!" she told him. Link turned to her and explained that the horse belonged to him.

"Really?" she said. But she quickly dismissed the strange idea of an aquatic Zora owning a horse. "Anyway, my big sister owns this ranch. It's nice and calm here for the most part. But, some scary things have been happening… ghostly thieves will pop up out of thin air in the middle of the night and steal some of our cows and Cuccos. Three nights ago we were riding our milk carriage back from Clock Town, and we saw the same thieves dragging your poor horse along. They looked like they were going to sell her to the mills, but my sister stopped them by flashing a lantern in their path."

Hearing this story, Link clenched his fists in anger. Epona was no workhorse!

"Besides those thieves my sister's nice to strangers, but she and I don't get along sometimes," the girl added. "The burden of running the ranch can make her very mean." She frowned and covered a red place on her arm.

The girl's older sister soon appeared. "Hi there, young Zora!" she greeted. "I see you've met my little sister. What brings you all the way out here?"

Link told her he wanted to work for her to make some money. And her little sister told her that he claimed to own the horse they had rescued. "All right," she said to Link. "You seem like an honest Zora, so the horse is yours. And if you're willing to do some work, I've got much to do today. If you complete all my chores for me, I'll give you five hundred Rupees."

"Five hundred Rupees?!" Tatl exclaimed. "That's just enough to rescue my brother!"

Link rose to the challenge and completed all of the ranch owner's tasks within a few short hours. The ranch owner was amazed at how fast this Zora worked, especially in the dry heat of the Sun. "Incredible!" she exclaimed when he had finished. She thanked him by giving him a bag holding the generous amount of Rupees she promised.

Tatl then ordered, "Come, Link, let's return to Clock Town now and get Tael back!" But Link wanted to be rid of his curse as soon as he could, and so he dismissed Tatl's order. He led Epona out of her pen and prepared to ride her to the witch's shop eastward where he could buy magic spice for Tangle.

"What?!" Tatl shouted. "First you promise to save Tael, and then you go off helping all these other people! And now you're helping yourself when Tael is just within reach?!"

Link got cross with her, and when she decided she couldn't stand him anymore, she yelled, "I'm leaving! Thanks for nothing!" and flapped away.

At that time, Link wished he had never met such a bad-tempered fairy. He silently waved goodbye to the ranch owner and her little sister as he left their ranch on Epona.

* * *

An hour later, Link arrived at the witch's shop east of Clock Town. It was a distinguishable place – a small castle tower with stairs leading up to its door and surrounded by a tiny swamp.

When Link walked up the tower steps and entered the shop, the old witch at the desk welcomed him. "I've never had a Zora boy grace my shop before," she said with a laugh, and she asked him what he would like. Link peered around her cramped little shop, full of pleasing trinkets and charms and bottles. He told her he only wanted some magic spice.

"Magic spice, you say?" said the witch. "What would a Zora like yourself do with such an item?" Link claimed he had no time to explain, and was willing to pay any price for it. The witch gave him a bottle in exchange for half of his Rupees.

"By the way, I've been looking for my lost son," she mentioned. "He's a scarecrow about three heads tall and plays a flute. Have you by any chance seen him?"

Link nodded and told her he was living in a small forest near the Great Bay. The witch scoffed, and then said with much bewilderment in her voice, "I adopt that child and he still chooses to run away? I've been trying to provide for him the best I can. I may have gotten too stern with him at times, but it's for his own good! The next time you see him, tell him to come home!"

Returning to Epona with the bottle of magic spice, Link set out for Tangle's cottage. On his arrival to the cottage, Link smelled something good coming from the chimney. When he entered, Tangle greeted him warmly. "There you are!" he said with much excitement. "Do you have my magic spice?"

Link handed him the spice bottle, and Tangle rejoiced and danced about. "This is just what I need!" he sang.

Bringing the bottle over to his cauldron, Tangle sprinkled some of the spice into the cauldron's bubbling brew, and Link watched him stir his brew with a ladle and pour himself a bowl. He then brought the bowl to his lips, giving the brew a taste.

"Soup made from pixie root is delicious with this spice," Tangle declared with satisfaction. "What's more, that pearl I just sold off at the Clock Town market has made me a fortune! I sure am living the good life now!"

Realizing that Tangle had tricked him into running silly errands, Link became so furious that he kicked the man in the face. He threw all his books to the floor and pushed over his cauldron, laying his cottage to waste.

When Link stomped outside the cottage and slammed the door behind him, he was greeted by a group of equally angry Clock Town guards.

"There he is! The horse thief, just where the fairy said he would be at this time!" the head guard said, pointing at Link with his spear. Link stared at him and his group in shock. A few of them were sitting atop horses, and they had Epona wrangled in rope. He also saw Tatl, who immediately fled his gaze by hiding behind a guard's helmet.

"You're coming with us!" the head guard ordered, and Link could do nothing but put his hands over his head and obey.

* * *

The guards marched Link to court in Clock Town, where he was to face trial for a crime he did not commit. He fumed in silence at Tatl's lie, but then he began to think, was he not a thief for taking the Zoras' pearl?

The Clock Town courtroom was dark as pitch, except for the light that shone from the judge's bench. Link was thrown into the middle of the room, and he stood up in the presence of the Clock Town judge himself. The judge was a skeleton, as was his assistant sitting next to him. Link stared up at them in confusion as to why that was so.

"Don't give us that look!" the judge snarled at Link. "Only the dead are fit to judge the living. As Clock Town's judge, I am the final voice in all matters of justice." He peered down at his paperwork. "You claim to own a young horse you found at a ranch, yet you are also a Zora. Now tell me, why would a Zora have any use for a horse, if Zoras dwell in the sea?"

"It could be a seahorse rather than a horse that he took!" his assistant proposed.

"Don't be a simpleton," said the judge. "Seahorses have gills and fins, and do not have four legs with which to run on land like the one he stole!"

"But Zoras also have four legs, and their fins wave like a horse's mane!" the assistant said.

"Who hired you to be my assistant?!" the judge demanded.

"You did, Your Honor!" his assistant replied before cackling wildly.

"Enough!" the judge boomed, silencing him. He turned back to Link. "Because you are only a misguided child, you will clean Clock Town's clock tower," he declared. "Then when you have learned proper discipline, we will toss you back into the sea where you came from." The judge would not even allow Link a word of defense. He slammed down his gavel and ended the trial.

The clock tower in the center of Clock Town was large and tall, and Link had to scrub it clean with a single cloth, starting at the bottom. When he had finally reached the bell at the top of the tower, a purple fairy flittered up to him. It was Tatl's brother, Tael.

Heeding Link's shock at the sight of him, Tael explained that Tatl had returned to the shop where he was held captive, and was so filled with rage that she cut the rope hanging the shop sign with her wings, bringing it down upon the head of the salesman. Then she had knocked over Tael's glass jar, breaking it apart and freeing him. She told him everything that had happened, and finally flew away.

"And now I cannot find Tatl anywhere," Tael said, drooping his wings. "Oh, what can I do now?"

While pondering Tatl's whereabouts Link pulled out his map, and as he looked it over, the blank spot he had noticed earlier drew his eyes again. He pointed to it and asked Tael if he knew what that place used to be.

"Why, it's the site of the Stone Temple!" Tael replied. "A Great Fairy once told me that place used to be an old worshipping ground for a goddess. Yet somehow, I cannot remember the goddess' name."

Link hastily climbed down the clock tower and dashed off, and Tael did his best to keep up with him. The Clock Town guard watching over Link saw him leave, and yelled to him that he hadn't yet finished cleaning the clock tower bell.

Link came to the stable where the guards had locked up Epona and freed her. With a new companion in Tael, he hopped onto his horse and rode off to the Stone Temple to see if the goddess Majora could be found there.


	7. Chapter 7

**The Forgotten Temple**

* * *

The following morning, something awful happened in Clock Town. By a strange dark power, prices on goods and other such things suddenly dropped everywhere.

As panicked reports came into the office of the quirky Clock Town mayor, the mayor made changes to his large market chart that showed the state of the town's economy. "Everything's losing value at a tumbling rate!" he exclaimed, glaring at the steep downward line on the chart. "It's the end of the world!" He screamed and threw papers everywhere and sent the Cuccos in his office flying.

Time was running out. The people of Clock Town were fighting in the marketplace, grabbing, shoving, and trampling each other to hoard goods and prepare for oncoming poverty. The Clock Town guards were overwhelmed, and try as they may to stop the chaos their efforts were in vain, for they too were trampled.

* * *

Upon their eventual arrival at the Stone Temple – a towering structure in the middle of a lonely canyon – Tael spoke to Link.

"You say the goddess of Termina is Majora?" he asked. "And you say she is the one bearing vile curses upon the land? If she brought Termina into being, why would she curse it?" Link had no answer.

Tael followed Link as he rode Epona into the temple. Once inside they saw that the Stone Temple was quite empty, but it was also lit by torches holding everlasting blue flames. They went down a few halls and climbed up a number of stairs. Eventually they came to the temple sanctuary, a place scarred with cracks and holes and other signs of neglect. In the center of the room, the tall statue of a woman stood on a round platform.

And there in front of the statue floated Navi, Link's fairy friend that he had been searching for!

Link called out her name and who he was in his unrecognizable Zora form, and she turned to him at the sound of his voice.

"No!" she shrieked suddenly. "Link, is that you?! You were not supposed to come here!"

A hissing sound reached Link's ears, and the head of a giant centipede squirmed out of a hole in the floor. Epona reared in fright, and Link leaped down from her to ready himself for battle. Then, a second centipede appeared from behind the shadows. But the centipedes crawling along the sides of the room were not two. They burst through a cracked wall, emerging as two heads on one body.

Link tried to attack the centipede monster, but one of its heads twisted its neck and slammed him across the hard floor. As Link struggled to get up, the other head prepared to lunge at him with its hideous fangs.

"Farore, O' Farore!" Navi called urgently. "Save this boy! I beg you to reach through Majora's prison and lend him aid!"

Navi's prayer was answered, for as the monster began to strike a ray of green light burst from the statue of the woman. In a white flash the ray sliced the monster in half. The monster's detached heads screeched and withdrew into the shadows.

The same ray struck Link, but it shed his Zora form and returned him to his human form. At long last he was free of his curse, and he had gotten back his sword and shield, too!

As Link recovered, Navi flew to him. "Why did you come here?" she demanded. "From the looks of your cursed form and the monster that attacked you, Majora has you in her sights. And by the way, who is this fairy?"

Tael performed a fairy's bow to Navi and told her his name. Link asked her how she knew about Majora, the one he believed was wreaking havoc on Termina.

"Farore, the Goddess of Courage," Navi began, "was clawed from the heavens by Majora, the Goddess of Light and Darkness, with whom she shared power to create all living beings. Unto Hyrule Farore gave life, and unto Termina, Majora. But Majora's creatures are darker in spirit, and they have embittered and angered her, causing her blackened heart to corrupt the land. Once she destroys it, she will use Farore's power to make it anew."

Link then asked Navi what she was doing at the Stone Temple. "Majora had cursed Farore and trapped her in this statue for her purposes, then moved the statue here, the temple that her people abandoned," Navi replied. "Farore cried out to me in her imprisoned state to bring you here and free her, as your heart is close to pure and most able to withstand Termina's evils. But I didn't want to put you in danger. I wanted to do this myself and let you live like a normal boy. That's why I left that night without telling you."

When Link firmly told Navi he was worried about her, she confessed, "I thought that because I was Farore's chosen fairy, I could free her. I cannot, no matter what I try. But now that you are here, with your courage she can escape, and we can leave this world."

Link then asked Navi if they could save Termina, instead of leaving it to death at Majora's hands. Navi replied coldly, "Termina's fate is to be destroyed. Its people are nasty and without remorse. Once you free Farore, we shall return home, to Hyrule." Tael shuddered at Navi's heartless feelings for his home.

But when Link thought of home, he thought of Zelda, the young princess of Hyrule who was wise beyond her years, and who was also his best friend. _"In Hyrule, there are many good people and there are a few bad people,"_ he remembered Zelda telling him once as the two sat on a grassy hill overlooking the Hyrulian kingdom. _"When I become queen, I vow to protect them all. It might sound foolish of me, but even those who are bad deserve compassion, as long as they are able to part from evil."_

Link reminded himself of the spark of goodness in Termina's people, and after returning from his memories, he arose and loudly expressed his wish to save Termina from Majora's wrath.

Navi did not believe his words at first, and said with much shock in her voice, "You are willing to save a world that is putrid?!" Link answered yes, and said he wanted to do what Princess Zelda would think was right.

"The Princess?" Navi answered in dismay. She was then startled by a message from Farore. "Farore has spoken to me," she said with a gasp. "She has agreed to aid you in subduing Majora. Why, I cannot understand. She says, 'Now, Link, bow and draw me out of my dark prison.' That is her wish to you."

Link kneeled in front of the statue of the woman and opened his heart to Farore. Green light beamed from the statue and flew into his sword, making it glow and crackle in the sword's sheath like lightning. When he stood and drew the sword out, he beheld its radiance. He was holding the very power of the goddess Farore within his grasp.


	8. Chapter 8

**The Wrath of a Blackened Heart**

* * *

Link rode Epona out of the Stone Temple and into the fields to find Majora. Navi and Tael trailed behind them. The shadows of the hills, rocks, shrubs and trees gave no clues to Majora's whereabouts, but Link pressed on. His search continued the rest of the day until Navi told him, watching the setting Sun, "Night is coming, Link. We should rest for now. You look exhausted."

He agreed with her, and when he arrived at Clock Town to see if he could spend the night at the inn, a guard stopped him in his tracks.

"No one outside is allowed in," he said, holding up his hand. "The town is in ruin thanks to an economic disaster. No one can pay for anything, not even a night's stay at the inn."

Link did not argue with him, and instead he decided to ride up to a hill overseeing the town. He and Epona rested under a tree with Navi and Tael, while the Moon began to rise into the night sky.

Link tried to go to sleep, but he couldn't. He stared up at the Moon, and continued to stare at it deeper into the night.

He had been staring at it for so long, in fact, that at first he didn't notice anything strange about the Moon. But then he suddenly recalled it being smaller than it now was. He stood up instantly and woke the sleeping fairies, telling them that the Moon had grown bigger.

"The Moon is bigger?" Navi said. Tael looked up and gasped at the sight of it. "It looks like it's going to come crashing down!" he exclaimed.

A hush quieter than the night itself fell over the land. Not much more time passed before the people of Clock Town awoke to the frightened hollering of the Clock Town guards.

"The Moon is falling! It's falling!" they heard the guards cry. The clock tower bell ringer heard the guards as well and rang alarming chimes to everyone in town and beyond. The townspeople got out of bed, peered outside their windows, and saw the Moon. It was slowly growing, consuming the sky above them.

"Majora!" one woman suddenly shouted. "Is this the doing of Majora?!"

At her mention of Majora's name, her listeners realized what was happening all too clearly. "For so long we have lost sight of Majora and her gift of life," a knowing gentleman said. "Now she is going to destroy us."

"Why me?" cried a logger in his pajamas, unable to handle the thought of doom. "All I've done is cheat on a bet, kick my neighbor's donkey, take someone's loaf of bread and vandalize a sign!"

When the news reached the judge of Clock Town and his assistant at their court, the assistant cackled maniacally. "Who cares?!" he shouted. "We're already dead!" And the judge joined in the laughter.

A group of Gorons who had rolled down from Snowhead Mountain to Clock Town in order to trade goods looked up from the streets where they were sleeping, and observed the Moon in both awe and horror. The markets turning sour did not grieve them at all, compared to the extinction they were about to face.

A sudden quaking of the ground woke up the witch who owned the magic shop east. "What is that?!" she yelled. She scurried outside her tower, and her heart nearly gave out at the sight of the Moon. But then she saw her scarecrow son running up the stairs to her.

"What happened to you, boy?" she asked him in surprise. "Why did you run away?"

" _Mom!_ " he cried back. "The Moon!" When he reached her at last he fell into her arms. "I'm scared! I promise I won't ever run away again! Please, do something! Cast one of your spells!"

The witch stroked the scarecrow boy's back as she watched the Moon grow ever larger. She gravely answered, "I'm afraid no manner of witchcraft can do anything to stop this."

As the Moon drew nearer, the waters of the Great Bay began to churn violently. The Zoras were forced to escape their domain in the underwater cliff, for tidal waves were rolling in and carrying everything and everyone inside away to sea, never to be seen again.

As Link listened to the terrified cries of Termina's people, he remembered someone he met. After waking Epona he told Navi and Tael that he had an idea where Majora could be, and they followed him as he rode to the Deku Forest.

Within the sick forest, the Deku Scrub tribe had gone amok, its people running around in a panic trying to find places to burrow underground to escape the Moon's impact. Inside the royal Deku chamber, the Deku butler bore the grave news to the king and princess. "The Moon is dropping onto the land?" the Deku princess answered. "Impossible," said the Deku king. "I won't believe it."

"My Princess, Your Majesty," said the Deku butler, gesturing them to come outside. "Please, look up at the sky and see."

When they stepped out of the chamber and saw the gigantic Moon looming toward them, the king suddenly trembled all over, and the princess hid her face.

When Link arrived at the village of the Deku Scrubs, he left his horse behind and ran to where their fake goddess, the Jarpy bird, was being kept. He found her by a Deku tree hanging upside down, chained by the brace of her ankle to a pole over a pot of hot oil.

Link pushed the pot aside, then took out his sword and cut her chain to free her. But once on the ground she inched back from him fearfully. "A sword?" she stuttered. "Have you come here to execute me?"

Link noticed she could not fly, as her feathers were drenched in oil. He put his sword away and helped clean her wings with the cloth he had kept since its use on Clock Town's clock tower bell. When he was done, the Jarpy chirped at his kindness. "But it will do me little good to fly away now," she admitted. "The Moon is approaching. I could see it even while upside down."

Navi appeared alongside Tael and explained to the bird, "This boy's name is Link. We have learned from the goddess Farore that your goddess is trying to destroy Termina."

"Link believes that she is inside the Moon, controlling its plummet," Tael added. "We beg you to help him fly to it so he can stop her!"

"Fly to the Moon?" the Jarpy replied. She doubted herself at first, but told them she could try if Termina had a chance to survive.

A group of Deku Scrubs then appeared from some nearby bushes, all scuttling up to Link. "You look familiar to us," they told him. "Where might we have seen you before?"

Link explained he was there at the village when they captured the Jarpy. He held up the bundle of blue feathers he had saved from that day as proof. "He _is_ the same person, but a human!" squeaked a Scrub. "No wonder we recognized his silly green hat!"

Choosing to forget the way the Scrubs had treated him before, Link assured them that he would stop the fall of the Moon. Desperate as they were, they encouraged him without delay. "Yes! Do what you can to save us! Please!" they shouted. "We have no goddess or anyone to whom we can send our prayers!"

As the Jarpy permitted, Link hopped atop her back and told Navi and Tael to stay behind. He pulled out his sword as he and the bird took off into the moonlit sky.

Upon reaching the underside of the Moon, Link and the Jarpy entered a crater leading into a tunnel. Link left the Jarpy behind so he could face the likelihood of danger himself. He walked through a maze of dark tunnels with his sword glowing brightly until he stumbled upon the Moon's core, a chamber surrounded by blazing blue fire. And it was there that he found Majora.

Majora appeared to him as a masked black owl, the same form she had taken in the Deku Forest. "Everyone in Termina… they are filth who have cast me aside!" she howled. "Now I must punish them… I must wipe them all to ashes."

When Link raised his sword boldly to do battle with her, Majora briefly shook, because Farore and all her power lay within that weapon. Yet she said in a chilling tone, "Hylian child, I had warned you to leave this world by placing you under my curse. If you still refuse to listen… then you must perish as well!"

Majora then pulled her owl form into her mask and grew out the black legs and body of a large spider. She swiped at Link, knocking him to the ground. But Farore's guiding voice echoed in Link's mind, and he stood back up. With his sword he slashed at Majora's long legs, cutting off each and every one of them.

She screeched in pain, but Link knew that she would never die no matter how many times he attacked her. Next, she turned herself into a ferocious boar and tried to stomp Link into the ground. He raised the shield from his back and Farore's power engulfed it, protecting him from the blows of Majora's sharp hooves.

Majora then turned into her true form. She became a giant woman with the neck of a dragon. She hurled hot blue fire at Link, inflicting him with a burn. He held his wound and sank to the ground, and he clenched his teeth as a tear rolled down his cheek. But he gripped his sword with all his might. His sword then flashed as lightning, and he pulled himself up and stabbed Majora in the leg. He stabbed her again and again, while with each blow, the sound of thunder crashed.

Eventually she fell to her knees, and Link came up to the eerie mask hiding her face. With his sword shining bright, Link lifted it skyward and split the mask in two, and her true face was revealed.

It was a soft face, white as snow and filled with sadness. Majora covered her eyes and screamed.

When her rage ended, she spoke to Link in a restful state. "You are trying to stop me, child, in order to save my world?" she asked. Link nodded and withdrew his sword. Majora continued, "I had masked myself to strike the dark souls of Termina without sorrow or mercy. Without the mask these feelings are pouring out, and I cannot complete my wrath."

After healing Link from the burn she had given him, she arose. "I shall return the Moon to the heavens," she declared, "and let Farore return as well. My only wish now, Farore, is that you forgive me."

Her black body faded, and then her white face. She delivered Link and the Jarpy bird back down to the earth, and lifted the Moon back up into the stars.


	9. Chapter 9

**The Road Back to Hyrule**

* * *

When Link returned on top the Jarpy to his fairy friends in the Deku Forest, the green light of Farore vanished from his sword.

"The Moon is small again! It's back where it's supposed to be!" Tael rejoiced. "You did it, Link!"

Exhausted, Link collapsed in a bed of grass and fell fast asleep. Meanwhile the Deku Scrubs around him were cheering without his hearing. "We had forgotten that he's still a child," Navi said with a chuckle.

When the people of Termina saw that the Moon had taken its appropriate place among the stars and was now making way for the rising of the Sun, much joy and light washed over them. Smiles appeared on their faces, and tears filled their eyes. Even the mighty Gorons cried with rapture.

On a distant hill in the fields, a gang of ghostly thieves sat atop their horses. When the sunlight reached for them, they tried to turn tail and escape it, but it caught up to them and burned them into nothingness.

In Clock Town, the keeper of the town inn had taken the young boy she loved to a cellar to hide from both her shame and the Moon. When she and he peered outside at the bright sky, they wondered where the Moon had gone. The innkeeper then turned to the boy and said, "We are so lucky to be alive. But now I must tell you my transgression. I am shy around men my age, and that's why I took you in, so I could have someone to love when you grew up."

"But if that's true," said the boy, "then where am I to go now?"

The innkeeper held him close. "We'll find a place better for you than with me."

Later that day, a rested Link rode Epona across the fields toward Clock Town with Navi and Tael. He wanted to find Tatl, the very one who had betrayed him, and reunite her with Tael. As he approached the west gate of the town, some of the townspeople, Gorons, and even Zoras appeared before him. And as they gave him their deepest thanks for saving them he was startled, for not many in Termina had known of his deeds.

"Our goddess has spoken to our hearts the first since ancient times," said the quirky mayor of the town. "She says that a green-clothed boy from another world has awakened mercy within her. Do you hear us, child? We are fully indebted to you!"

"Indeed, how odd," said the knowing, well-dressed gentleman of the town, "that a boy – nay, a complete stranger to our land – would even bother to save us."

Warmed by their words at first, Link gazed at the Zoras and then lowered his head in shame. He apologized to the Zoras for stealing their most precious pearl the day after he had vanquished the Great Fish from the Great Bay.

"Do you really think we would care about that petty artifact after all that's happened?" said one of the Zoras. But Link continued to meditate on his theft.

Tael's sister Tatl had kept herself hidden in the crowd. When she heard Link's remorse, she flew out to meet both him and her brother.

"Tatl!" Tael shouted at the sight of her. "You've come back!"

The two siblings danced circles around each other. The dance soon ended, however, when Tatl began to speak.

"I left you after freeing you because I was too upset," she told Tael. "This boy helps people, but after all I went through with him, he did not help us."

"But he _has_ helped us!" exclaimed Tael. "We would not be here if not for him. You just cannot control your temper!"

Tatl then turned to Link, saying, "I wanted to teach you a lesson by stretching the story of your theft, because I thought you were breaking your promise to me. I'm sorry." Hearing this, Tael gave her a light snuggle.

After Link had forgiven her, Navi beckoned him. "Come, Link," she said. "We should return to Hyrule. Princess Zelda surely misses you." He nodded, and began to turn Epona around. But the people of Termina did not want him to leave just yet.

"Please, stay a while longer," pleaded the Clock Town mayor. "If you do, we will hold a festival at the clock tower plaza in your name!"

Being a meek boy, Link told them he did not want such a festival. But, he said, he may come back to visit someday. He waved goodbye to Tatl, Tael, and the people of Termina as he rode alongside the fluttering Navi in the direction of Hyrule. "Farewell, Link!" the people called out. "We will always remember you!"

* * *

The sickly trees of the Deku Forest became healthy again as Link, Epona and Navi traveled through them. The three came to the long tunnel of the hollow log that led back home. As they entered it, from the branch of a tree an owl watched them disappear. Her black body faded into the air, and then so did her face of white.

 **~The End~**


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